LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) – Police said it started with just one call, which reported a disturbance inside of the mall. But moments after arriving, first responders called for help.
"We need more units over here by the Cinemark, we need help – we need help over here. It's just us and three take down officers, we need people over here", one officer said over scanner.
Timothy Williams works at a kiosk inside of the mall. He said, "Kids are running around, there's security guards and cops yelling directly at people to go the nearest exit, at this point there was fights and incidents with the security guards and police officers, so it was really crazy."
Both police and employees alike quickly became overwhelmed by the chaos. While employees worked to protect their property and customers, police worked on crowd control.
"I'm over in front of Forever 21 right now, got a couple hundred over here right now at least," an officer said over scanner.
On one restaurant's security's footage obtained by WHAS11 you see the terrifying moments when families begin to realize what's happening, and start collecting their belongings and moving to the back on the restaurant. Restaurant Manager Antonio Cortez said his first instinct was to move his customers into the restaurant's kitchen, and then he locked the doors.
"I'm just taking the keys, and I closed the gate, closed the doors and I take the customers in the back, in an area like the kitchen bar and I tried to save my customers," Cortez said.
Police said it took hours to disperse the thousands of teenagers. As soon as one scene was under control, another would gain traction.
"There's another big mad dash of pedestrians running again toward Dillard's. There are groups running from the area near Cinemark towards Dillard's now," an officer said over scanner.
Four different law agencies were called to the scene and worked together to restore order.
"It was pretty chaotic, there was people running around, some people thought that there were guns", Williams said.
Police said they received several reports of shorts fired but none were confirmed. They also said they received reports of only minor injuries. They said many were a result of people falling within the crowds.
"It was out of control, until the end of it, it didn't seem like there was any control of the matter it was just people running around," Williams said.
Police said it took between 40 and 50 officers and three and a half hours to restore the peace. Peace they intend to keep into the new year – after a very intense few hours at the Mall St. Matthews.
St. Matthews Police told WHAS11 they plan to meet with mall officials in the coming week to discuss the mall's policies and potentially create new ones, in order to prevent these incidents from happening in the future.
